Field
The present invention relates generally to communication, and more specifically to techniques for dynamically adjusting the transmission timing interval (TTI) in a communication system.
Background
Communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, packet data, and so on. These systems can be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users simultaneously by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems.
A communication system can employ a transmission time interval (TTI) for transmission of data between communication system components (e.g., between user equipment (UE) and a base station (BS or NodeB)). For example, a NodeB may transmit one or more data packets to a receiver in a given TTI, wherein the TTI can be based on the transmission conditions, commonly referred to as the link budget. Generally, the link budget refers to the gains and losses in a signal transmitted between a transmitter and a receiver in a communications system and therefore accounts for attenuated signals, antenna gains, and other gains and losses. For example, the received power is equal to the transmitted power minus losses plus gains for that NodeB. As such, all transmissions within a given NodeB can utilize a common TTI. Under current standards, communications systems can select either a 2 millisecond (ms) or 10 ms TTI. Conventionally, communications systems select either the 2 ms or 10 ms TTI when establishing a communications event (e.g., a voice call, data call, or combinations thereof, . . . ). Further conventional systems typically employ the same TTI for all UE-NodeB pairs in a given communications region (e.g., a cell).
There is therefore a need in the art to be able to dynamically select TTI's within an established communication session and further to be able to individually dynamically select TTI's for a plurality of mobile devices within a transmission region.